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Elite troops bound for Afghanistan Allies consider backing out of dangerous mission Chris Wattie National Post January 04, 2006 The Canadian Forces is sending up to 100 commandos from its elite Joint Task Force 2 to Afghanistan this month, the largest contingent of special forces Canada has ever sent overseas, the National Post has learned. Between 75 and 100 soldiers of JTF-2 will arrive just ahead of a 2,000-member Canadian battle group that is deploying to the restive southern province of Kandahar amid growing warnings of high casualties and a looming enemy offensive in the region. Defence sources familiar with...

OTTAWA - A top-secret unit of super soldiers could be one of Canada's main contributions in a new global war on terrorism - but don't expect to hear about it. The elite counter-terrorism, Joint Task Force 2, or JTF2, is shrouded in secrecy. Its operations at home and overseas, its budget, and even the number of soldiers who belong to it, are classified data. So it came as a surprise when Defence Minister Art Eggleton specifically mentioned JTF2 as one resource Canada has to offer in a U.S.-led response to recent terrorist attacks. The minister is tight-lipped on what ...

JTF2 buys new guns; regular troops make do MP blasts 'double standard' that puts lives of elite soldiers above others David Pugliese The Ottawa Citizen October 8, 2005 Canada's special forces unit has gone on a multimillion-dollar spending spree, outfitting itself with high-tech weaponry that is the envy of units throughout the military. But some members of parliament are questioning why there appears to be a double-standard in equipping regular and elite soldiers. Flush with federal government cash, the Ottawa-based Joint Task Force 2 has purchased everything from the futuristic P-90 submachine-gun to the Heckler and Koch automatic grenade launcher....

Extremist militias could be defeated within three years, Canadian says KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- Afghanistan's insurgency can be defeated within two or three years, a top Canadian commander said yesterday, offering a more hopeful view of the situation than other suggestions that Canadian troops would keep fighting for two decades. Colonel Steve Bowes, commander of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kandahar, said the extremist militias that plague rural Afghanistan could be eliminated much faster than previously estimated if international donors help the country recover from years of war. "It could take two years, best-case scenario," Col. Bowes said. As he spoke,...

OTTAWA -- Canada's elite JTF2 soldiers are heading to Afghanistan as part of a 2,000-troop deployment that will target the "detestable murderers and scumbags" behind the rise in international terrorism, General Rick Hillier said yesterday. In a blunt briefing that signalled a new aggressiveness at the top of the Canadian Forces, the Chief of the Defence Staff said the impending operations are risky but necessary in light of last week's bombings in the British public-transit system. "The London attack actually tells us once more: We can't let up," Gen. Hillier told reporters. He said terrorists are ready to target Canada...

Ottawa — Canada's elite JTF2 soldiers are heading to Afghanistan as part of a 2,000-troop deployment that will target the "detestable murderers and scumbags" behind the rise in international terrorism, General Rick Hillier said

JTF-2 awarded American citation Details of operation that earned the award kept secret Stephen Thorne Canadian Press December 08, 2004 OTTAWA (CP) - Canada's special operations military unit, Joint Task Force 2, has been awarded the U.S. Presidential Unit Citation for heroism in battle. It's just the second Canadian military unit to receive the honour. U.S. President George W. Bush made the presentation in California to the American commander of the multinational force in Afghanistan of which JTF-2 was a part from October 2001 to April 2002. The citation, first awarded after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on Dec....

KABUL - The elite commandos of Joint Task Force 2 are operating in Afghanistan as part of the Canadian contingent of soldiers to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the Department of National Defence confirmed yesterday. A spokesman for John McCallum, the Defence Minister, told the National Post that an undisclosed number of JTF-2 commandos have now joined the more than 1,900 Canadian soldiers in Kabul. "I can confirm that some members of JTF-2 are among the Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan with the ISAF," said Randy Mylyk, spokesman for the minister. "Obviously, for reasons of security and safety of...